#HowFitFeels was a unique social experiment removing fitness form 3 people and adding it to 3 others to explore the impact exercise has in our lives. Over the 12 week experiment we captured our participants progress in 4 check-ins conducted as interviews with a psychologist which we developed into 4 documentary style content videos. To keep the focus on the psychological aspect we decided not to show their bodies.

Fitness First’s BioScore™ assessment was used to benchmark where the participants stood with their health, fitness and lifestyle, and revealed the effect exercise, or lack there of, has on their body age. During the experiment we also tracked their activity level, sleep patterns, resting heart rate and daily mood rating to evaluate how their lives changed.

Over a 3-month period we removed fitness from the lives of 3 very fit people and added it to 3 people who had barely set foot in a gym, exploring the impact of exercise on couch potatoes and, crucially, the impact of abstinence on existing exercise junkies. At the heart of the campaign was a 4-part documentary web series in which we interviewed each of the participants throughout the experiment, documenting their highs and lows to see how fitness can transform the way you feel – not just the way you look.

The campaign spanned social media, online display, in-gym media and member communications and resulted in well over 4 million video views at a completion rate of 87.7% plus pick-up on news programs including Sunrise and Gruen as it sought to defy the category by showing the world that there is more to fitness than the way you look.

Results were overwhelmingly positive with 4.8 million video views across all channels, over 31.5 million impressions at a 0.23% CTR and extensive coverage on ABC’s ‘Gruen’ and Channel 7’s ‘Sunrise’. This talkability directly translated into a huge increase in customer leads and conversion, with customer acquisition increasing by 9% from campaign launch against the 5% objective.

But perhaps the biggest result was a change to the way Fitness First saw their role in their members’ lives. Through real insights, revealed in real time, the #HowFitFeels campaign revealed that we only truly understand the impact of exercise when we stop obsessing about how fitness looks and focus instead on how it improves our mood, energy and confidence.

By challenging this, Fitness First realised it needed to do more to help manage their members’ mental well-being, something we are currently working alongside them to operationalise.